Wharfedale 40, Stourbridge 5

Though a tense and nervy encounter may have been expected at The Avenue yesterday, this must-win SSE National League One game for Stourbridge ended in comprehensive defeat, leaving them contemplating almost certain relegation as a rampant Wharfedale all but banished any such lingering worries for themselves.

The Dalesmen began promisingly with fluent handling pressure producing six points from a sweetly-struck 45-yard Tom Davidson penalty and snap Tom Barrett drop goal but they were forced to defend grimly against furious pressure for much of the half.

Stourbridge rely heavily on the power of their rolling maul, and the Greens’ ability to blunt this potent weapon near their line laid an important platform for their eventual triumph.

But thereafter their ability, for once, to turn pressure quickly into points secured them a comfortable 23-0 interval lead, with tries from Phil Woodhead, celebrating his England Counties call-up, and Simon Horsfall, with Davidson adding two conversions and a penalty.

Woodhead was nippily on hand to finish off a typical Dan Solomi breakaway from ruck ball to ground under the posts.

Then he combined in a neat interchange of passes with Alex Rieder off the side of a scrum to send his winger over on the blind side.

Despite the brief encouragement for the visitors of a try immediately after the resumption when prop Adam Sturdy was driven over from a corner maul, once this was neutralised by a Solomi steal away from a quick tap penalty, it became one-way traffic for the Greens.

A disappointing Stourbridge offered nothing in attack and little back-play support for the often sterling work of their pack, who for all their honest effort were unable to crack a resilient home defence.

Wharfedale added two further tries to crown a fine all-round display.

The bonus-point try arrived on the hour via a deft Barrett chip-kick over the defence, collected by powerful flanker Rieder.

And once the valiant Stourbridge rearguard was breached, the dominant Greens, destroying an exhausted Saxon scrum, added a fifth try from replacement prop Joe Altham, converted by Davidson.

For Wharfedale there were prominent contributions from Barrett and Rieder (playing his first full game for the club), both individually and in combination in setting up the ball-carrying drive, while Joe Quinn was again a forceful presence at the line-out as well as around the field.

Wharfedale will relax happily, well pleased with a fine team performance and a job thoroughly well done.